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OVERVIEWAppalachian State University football held its ninth and 10th practices of 2012 on Friday with its second two-a-day session of the year. The Mountaineers practiced for nearly two-and-a-half hours on Friday morning at Kidd Brewer Stadium and held an hour-long workout dedicated almost entirely to special teams on Friday afternoon in the Sofield Family

Indoor Practice Facility. With the Apps' second intrasquad scrimmage of the week set for Saturday, Friday was a scaled-back day from a physical standpoint. Friday's morning practice was conducted in helmets, shoulder pads and shorts with limited contact while the afternoon was held in helmets and shorts with no contact.

HIGHLIGHTS• Appalachian closed Friday's morning practice with nearly 45 minutes of 11-on-11 drills that featured scrimmage-like conditions with the exception of tackling (plays were blown dead when a defender wrapped up the ball-carrier).• The Mountaineer defense was spectacular for much of the 11-on-11 periods, forcing nine-consecutive three-and-outs to close out the morning. Over the course of those nine series, Appalachian's D limited its offensive counterparts to minus-three yards.• Lining up mainly on the defensive front, freshman Tashion Singleton led the defensive onslaught with three sacks and four tackles for loss during the 11-on-11 drills. On one particular series, he made all three stops, including an eight-yard sack on third-and-seven.• Junior Adam Scott and redshirt freshman Chris Shaffer continued to impress in fall camp with strong showings on Friday morning. Scott, who has been in the first-team rotation at end, made a handful of stops during Friday's 11-on-11 drills, including at least one tackle for loss. Shaffer, an aggressive safety, recorded a sack among his two stops behind the line of scrimmage.• The offense also had some highlights during the morning's 11-on-11 periods, particularly during an impressive six-play, 70-yard touchdown drive on its opening possession.• Jamal Jackson completed all four of his passes for 65 yards during the 70-yard touchdown drive. His top target was sophomore tight end Drew Bailey, who hauled in two receptions for 54 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown catch.• Four Appalachian football alums — Tommy Sofield (1973-75), his son, Tommy (2003-06), Scott Suttle (2004-07) and Chase Laws (2005-07) — were in attendance at practice on Friday.

INJURY UPDATE• Appalachian received some unfortunate news on Friday morning when doctors confirmed that freshman standout Dante Blackmon would miss the entire season due to a knee injury sustained during a non-contact drill on Sunday. Blackmon will redshirt in 2012 and retain four seasons of eligibility. He may return to action in time for spring practice and is expected to be at 100 percent in plenty of time for next year's fall camp.• Redshirt freshman defensive lineman Thomas Bronson could be back in as soon as a week-and-a-half after sustaining a knee injury on Tuesday.• Senior tight end Jey Yokeley will miss 3-6 weeks with a leg injury sustained during Wednesday's intrasquad scrimmage.

WHAT'S UP NEXTAppalachian holds its second intrasquad scrimmage of the week on Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium. All practices are closed to the general public but GoASU.com will have exclusive updates from the practice field throughout fall camp.